so she'd been up since dawn getting things ready to help out at the exam center.

"Mom, I'll go with you and Dad."

I stuffed a steamed bun into my mouth and grabbed my things.

"Sweetheart, you're not even taking the exam. Why bother? You've worked hard for three years. Stay home and rest…"

"I want to go."

I took a handful of small fans from her and tucked them into my bag.

"We were classmates for three years. Least I can do is see them off."

Of course I was going. I wasn't about to miss the fallout I'd been waiting for.

Lucky for me, there wasn't a single classmate assigned to the same exam room as me this time around,

so none of them had any idea I'd withdrawn.

Outside the school, I spotted Molly and Ethan walking side by side.

They spotted me too.

The second they did, both of them turned their heads in unison and walked the other way, avoiding me.

Once they'd put some distance between us, snickering drifted back toward me,

as if they could already see the ruin they'd lined up for me this time around.

My mom looked baffled.

"Miriam, what's going on with Ethan? And that girl next to him, she's in your class too, right? Why are they both avoiding you like that? They don't know you're not taking the exam! They didn't even say hello!"

"Oh, they probably just didn't see me."

I pulled Mom and Dad over to a quiet corner and sat them down.

"You've been busy all morning and most of the students are already inside. Take a break."

I was sitting by the school gates with my parents, chatting about life after college,

when a commotion broke out near the campus security office.

More than a dozen security guards and over a dozen teachers hurried past us, heading straight for the exam rooms.

Minutes later, they came back—hauling students out by the arms.

I stood up and craned my neck to look inside—all fifty-six of my classmates, every single one, with Molly and Ethan dead center. The parents who'd been gathered near the school gate were already surging toward them, and the proctor's face was ashen.

He turned to the parents crowding around him and spoke in a voice that cut through the noise.

"Parents of Senior Class 11, are you here? Come forward."

"Here!"

"Sir, what happened? They're supposed to be taking the exam! Why were our children pulled out?!"

"Exactly! If this ruins their national college entrance exam, can you take responsibility for that?!"

"Responsibility?!"